Intentions to Marry, 1913 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840453, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1913 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1913a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1913b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1913c).

Page 010

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar W. W. White

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

688

5 February 1913

Philip Norman Rundle
Edith Mary Andrews

Philip Norman Rundle
Edith Mary Andrewes
💍 1913/4687

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic duties

30
24

Dunedin
Ashburton

54 years

St Stephens, Church of England

13/4489

5 February 1913

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	688
Date of Notice	5 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Norman Rundle	Edith Mary Andrews
BDM Match (97%)	Philip Norman Rundle	Edith Mary Andrewes
	💍 1913/4687
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Ashburton
Length of Residence		54 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens, Church of England
Folio	13/4489
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

689

15 February 1913

Thomas Robert Horne
Isabella Mary Knosp

Thomas Robert Horne
Isabella Mary Knox
💍 1913/1843

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic duties

36
30

Weiderwere
Ashburton

10 years
30 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church

13/1333

15 February 1913

Rev. G. S. Inglis

No	689
Date of Notice	15 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robert Horne	Isabella Mary Knosp
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Robert Horne	Isabella Mary Knox
	💍 1913/1843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Weiderwere	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church
Folio	13/1333
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Inglis

690

23 February 1913

Charles James Norton
Dora Florance Angela Stevens

Charles James Norton
Dora Florence Angela Stevens
💍 1913/1568

Widower
Spinster

Postmaster

55
38

Ashburton
Wellington

3 months
35 years

St Peter's Church, Wellington

13/1131

23 February 1913

Ven. Archdeacon Harper

No	690
Date of Notice	23 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James Norton	Dora Florance Angela Stevens
BDM Match (98%)	Charles James Norton	Dora Florence Angela Stevens
	💍 1913/1568
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster
Age	55	38
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	35 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	13/1131
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Harper

691

3 March 1913

Percy William Fryer
Ethel Louise Gates

Percy William Fryer
Ethel Louise Gates
💍 1913/4688

Bachelor
Spinster

Student
Teacher

33
40

New Brighton
Ashburton

34 years

St Stephens Church of England

13/45690

3 March 1913

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	691
Date of Notice	3 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Fryer	Ethel Louise Gates
	💍 1913/4688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Student	Teacher
Age	33	40
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Ashburton
Length of Residence		34 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England
Folio	13/45690
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

692

3 March 1913

Robert Alexander Johnstone
Agnes Gourdie

Robert Alexander Johnstone
Agnes Gourdie
💍 1913/1822

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

28
50

Ashburton
Ashburton

28 years
50 years

At the dwelling of William Hastie, Ashburton

13/1360

3 March 1913

Rev. G. S. Inglis

No	692
Date of Notice	3 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Johnstone	Agnes Gourdie
	💍 1913/1822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	28	50
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	28 years	50 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of William Hastie, Ashburton
Folio	13/1360
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Inglis

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).